When the Past Comes Back to Haunt You
by Heart of the Lullaby
Summary: Courtney is in high school now, and a loner. But when someone from middle school who stole her spotlight temporarily comes back to haunt Courtney in high school, will her already bad situation get better or worse?
1. Chapter 1

What did I do

_What did I do?! _Courtney Gripling thought once at lunch, poorly balancing her lunch tray on her lap, sitting on the toilet seat. _What did I do to deserve THIS?! _

Courtney now had to eat lunch in the bathroom. She had been severely bullied by seniors, scarred for life. She was a little fish in a big pond.

In middle school, she was popular. Everyone knew her name, she had hundreds of friends, people were jealous of her and her designer clothes.

She was a far cry from the girl she used to be. Darren Patterson and his cheerleader girlfriend, Simone, and Darren's pathetic wannabe friends had become her successor.

People knew her name still…but now for all the wrong reasons. She was known as the school nutcase. Even some of her teacher's referred her to the school counselor, although she had refused time after time for help.

She now had no friends. Her best friend, Miranda, had dumped her for a Mipsy and her friends, who were way more popular than Courtney, now. She tried Ginger with no luck. She even tried Dodie and Macie as unattractive, annoying, and wannabe-ish as they were. She couldn't believe that even total losers had rejected her. And if she wasn't accepted by them, then what did that make her? _What could possibly be lower than Dodie and Macie?_

And designer clothes? Only in Courtney's most fanciful dreams. The Griplings had gone bankrupt, and ever since, she had had to wear last year's designer clothes, and shop in places like Target and K-mart….places she thought were myths.

The only thing she could at least be proud of now, is she was one of the smartest kids in her grade. In middle school, she was too busy with her social life to spend all that much time on homework and studying for tests. Usually, the Gripling's old driver, Winston, would always do it for her. Now, she had no more Winston, and she had so much time on her hands….what else could she do?

Pondering all these changes, made Courtney lose her concentration, and the tray wobbled over, and fell onto the blue-tiled bathroom floor. "Ohhhhhhhhhh," Courtney whimpered sadly, over the loss of her mystery meat surprise, salad, and low-calorie cookie.

Suddenly, she heard the door open, and Courtney scurried to stand on the seat, to peer over the stall, to see if might be the senior girls who made her life miserable. Nope, wasn't them. But she saw a familiar face. A nobody in middle school, with the help of Ginger, Dodie, and Macie became popular and stole her spotlight. Hope Rogers.


	2. Chapter 2

Courtney didn't care at this point

Courtney didn't care at this point. She never wanted to be in the same room as Hope Rogers. She was the cause of her deep depression. Ever since Hope Rogers became popular at Lucky Junior, she felt this event traumatized her in some way.

She was glad that Hope had gone to another school, and not Lucky High. She felt relieved, but not long after, she was stuck in another rut, with all the changes high school had brought.

And now, she had to see the person who ruined her life, after she had been rid of her again?

She left her unappealing lunch she had dropped on the floor. The janitor would just have to clean it up. She opened the stall door, and bolted as fast as she could in last year's It shoes, out the door. Too bad, she tripped before she could reach the door.

"Courtney Gripling?" Hope stared in amazement.

Courtney said nothing.

"Wow. You seem so…..different."

Courtney stood up, and gave Hope the stink eye, "Thanks for noticing," she said sarcastically.

"No, it's just….I haven't seen you since 8th grade. I'm a military brat, so we had to move all the way to Australia. It was cool, it just….wasn't the same there. So my mom and I moved back to Sheltered Shrubs," Hope explained sincerely.

"Well, that's great and all, but I really must be going, Faith," Courtney said, knowing calling Hope Faith always peeved her.

She didn't correct Courtney, like she expected her to. Instead "Look. I just want to say I'm sorry. I had no idea popularity meant so much to you. I just wanted to fit in for once. I move a lot, and I never feel like I'm always on the outside. You probably have no idea…"

Courtney said nothing. She just glared at her angrily. She didn't have time to pity on Hope, and tear up at her little sob story. And to say that she had no idea what it was like to not be popular……it put Courtney on edge.

"Yes, I do have an idea," she finally said, "it's called being Lucky High's school crazy girl."

She ran out, Hope calling after her. She ignored her. She didn't want anyone to feel sorry for her, especially not Hope.


	3. Chapter 3

Courtney came in through the door of the Gripling's tiny new house out of breath. She was more out of breath than usual, now that she had to walk home. Once that final bell had rung, she had saw Hope coming toward her. Courtney had bolted out of doors and ran as fast as she could home.

She went into the small little kitchen to get a glass of water. She took out the pitcher, and walked to the table where her glass was, on the way, she slipped and the pitcher flew into the air. It landed on her, showering her with water. _You're poor, crazy, and a klutz on top of it all? _She thought.

She got changed upstairs and did her homework. She was finally done, and she turned on her outdated, clunky old computer. It took forever to load to her desktop, and when the computer finally did, she logged onto AIM for a bit. She hadn't been on AIM in forever, since there was nobody who wanted to talk to her. Usually she would try and have a conversation with her old friends. They usually ignored her or signed out whenever she came online to avoid conversation. She had no idea why she signed in the first place. For some reason that day, even after the sucky day she'd had, she felt hopeful. That maybe all her exile was over, and maybe one of her old friends would talk to her again or something.

Unfortuneately, there was no one on her friends list online. She opened up an internet browser, researching for a project due in a few days. Then, it happened. An AIM window popped up:

**LifeIsHope8: Hi Courtney **

Courtney froze. She couldn't breathe. It was Hope.

**ItsCourtney200: Hope?**

**LifeIsHope8: Yeah**

**ItsCourtney200: Stop stalking me. **

**LifeIsHope8: Ok, sry. I'm not stalking you!**

**ItsCourtney200: K, FAITH. Then tell me how you got my AIM**

**LifeIsHope8: Just asked your friend Miranda.**

**ItsCourtney200: k, let's get something straight here: Miranda is NOT my friend**

**LifeIsHope8: oh. I'm sorry Courtney**

**ItsCourtney200: Don't be…it's not like im going to be forgiving you anytime soon. **

**LifeIsHope8: What I did I was sorta bad. But seriously, Courtney! I just thought that maybe u could forgive me and let the past stay the past. I know popularity is important to u, but I don't c why u have to get all upset. I thought maybe you had changed since 8****th**** grade, I thought maybe we could make up and be friends. But apparently, you haven't changed much.**

Courtney was now gasping, shocked by what Hope has just said. Courtney was close to tears…..because what Hope had said was true.

**Hope, I should be sorry. You're right, **Courtney started to type, and then:

_LifeIsHope8 signed off at 5:47 PM. _

Courtney pounded her hands on the desk in frustration. It stung that Hope was right and she was wrong. Hope had been right all along.


	4. Chapter 4

Just another boring day at Lucky High, and Courtney was still depressed from yesterday. _You haven't changed much, _Hope's words were ringing in her head.

She walked over to her locker, trying to unlock it. She ended up breaking a nail, and she looked sadly at her broken nail, then looking at the other nine cheap acrylic nails that she had done herself, "The day's just started, and everything is going wrong already!" she said to herself.

Mipsy sauntered over to her locker, "Ooo….are you ok, Courtney?" she said, her voice oozing with mock concern.

"Leave me alone, Mipsy."

"Are you having a bad day? Aww!" she put a hand around her shoulder, "Why don't we go to the bathroom? Maybe applying more make-up will help you feel better. I know it always does with me," Mipsy smirked.

"I know you're up to something. I can see it all over your face."

"Up to something?" she laughed a little, "How ridiculous! What would I ever do to one of my oldest friends?"

"Come on!" she said, giving Courtney a little shove, leading her to the girls' room.

She shoved her into the bathroom. SMASH! A water balloon landed on her, dousing her with cold water.

Miranda and Mipsy's other friends came out of their stalls, laughing and pointing.

Then, soon enough the senior girls came in, picked her up, and tossed her into the trash can, taking her somewhere. Soon, they set her down, and she was rolling and rolling, and she thought it would never end.

Finally, she came to a stop, and she heard so many people laughing at her. A few minutes later, she heard the bell ring, and people dashing off to their next class.

Someone took the lid off the can, and she could see daylight at last. She climbed out to see Hope standing there.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

"I didn't know they did this kind of stuff to you," Hope said quickly.

"Sorry," she said, and ran off, disappearing into the building.


End file.
